Marius Jurca, known in the artistic world as 13m10j, is a multidisciplinary artist based in Timișoara. He graduated from the Faculty of Art and Design in Timișoara with bachelor’s and master’s. In 2014, he obtained the scientific title of doctor with the thesis “Software: Creative Source in Digital Art”. His artistic practice is at the intersection of art, science and new technologies.
In 2018, he co-founded DIGITAL:CANVAS\, a space dedicated to digital art and supporting digital content creators. Over time, he has obtained several scholarships and awards and has been invited to participate in numerous artistic residencies, group exhibitions, festivals and art biennials nationally and internationally.

You are a digital artist and designer at artouching studio. Simultaneously, you coordinate the alternative space Digital:Canvas\. How do you manage to juggle the attributions generated by these three roles?

I admit it’s not easy, but if you want it and invest enough time and energy in your work, things will gradually fall into place. And if you have someone like Livia Mateiaș by your side, who, for me, is more than a partner in this cultural-artistic endeavor, the challenges are easier to overcome, and the successes more pleasant to share.

On the other hand, interactive digital art defines me best as an artist. The first interactive project I made was in 2010. That was when I felt that the technology allowed me a much more dynamic and deeper exploration of some concepts related to hazard or identity and visualizing the complexity of some processes invisible to the human eye. Quite atypical themes and not much addressed at that time from the perspective of technology.

At the same time, being a graduate of the Faculty of Art and Design in Timișoara, the design was constantly intertwined with my artistic approach, which is why in 2014, shortly after completing my doctorate, I founded, together with Livia, the artouching studio through which we wanted to offer professional art and design services to the general public. It was quite difficult in the early years, because none of us had the necessary expertise to manage a start-up, and the market for such services was and still is relatively small. Towards the end of 2017, we realized we needed a workshop and decided to rent a space in the former AZUR factory in Timișoara. This is how DIGITAL:CANVAS\ appeared, a space dedicated to digital art, which we have managed together for five years.
Therefore, considering the evolution of events, I was somehow forced to become, in addition to being an artist, a designer and company administrator, and then an artist-run space coordinator. For now, things are going in the right direction, and we manage to do them simultaneously; until when?…. I don’t know, but we’ll see…

You are the co-founder of the Digital:Canvas\ space in Timișoara. What was the context in which this project dedicated to digital creators took shape?

We have noticed, over time, the difficulties that young digital content creators face when they want to expose their projects. More precisely, the lack of hardware equipment and exhibition spaces or galleries dedicated to this artistic genre. Having already rented the studio and purchased several pieces of equipment for individual projects, we decided to support digital art as much as possible and try to create a community. Thus, in January 2018, we officially opened DIGITAL:CANVAS\ with an audio-visual performance by the artist Pilestra. Then, things naturally evolved with various events, from individual One Day Show exhibitions to artist talks and performances, including workshops for children and young people dedicated to digital artistic practice.

Is there a story regarding the name Digital:Canvas\?

The name came somehow spontaneously. After installing the hardware equipment in the space (video projectors, televisions, touchscreen monitors, etc.) I noticed the similarity of the screens with the classic drawing or painting support, the only difference being their composition. In other words, we saw ourselves surrounded by “digital canvases” made up of pixels that seemed to be waiting to be “painted” by artists with their digital content.
From here came the name DIGITAL:CANVAS\, a space with “digital canvases” for artists to use creatively. Our slogan is “sharing pixels with creators”. It represents our intention to support digital art and young digital content creators, offering them a generous number of pixels to express themselves creatively and make themselves visible to the interested public.

Can you broadly describe the proposed curatorial program, the selection criteria, the relationship with the exhibiting artists, and the community built around the project?

In principle, we did not have a predetermined curatorial program; we worked ad hoc, offering the space, in the first phase, to our artist friends who are passionate about technology and then to those who contacted us directly or online. Most of the time, however, the events came by themselves, although we launched, over time, several open calls and, if we had funding, we also offered prizes to the participating artists.

The initial reaction from people who understood what we were trying to do was highly positive. We really felt that we were able to help interested artists concretely. We have had requests for exhibitions from local and foreign artists (Italy, Germany, Japan, and Great Britain) who personally came to the city to organize their exhibitions and get to know the local community. A community that had just started to form but which was suddenly stopped because the pandemic began, and we all had to move our activity online.

We still managed to launch the C.19 Interface project during the pandemic, an online project where we invited artists to submit a digital work created in the place where they were at the time. Initially, we promoted the artists and their works on the Instagram account of the DIGITAL:CANVAS\ platform, and later we created a digital catalog, which can still be downloaded for free from the event page.

After the pandemic, we gradually resumed the activity in the space with One Day Show type exhibitions, but less intensively because, lately, we have been in demand more as artists and as a creative studio. From next year, we intend to intensify the activity in the space with a curatorial program or perhaps a slightly more elaborate exhibition structure.

Since the inauguration of the Digital:Canvas\ space in 2018, you have organized and hosted a series of digital art exhibitions. What experiences have you accumulated during this period?

Although we do not have a very long history as a space dedicated to digital art, nor have we imposed a consistent program of events, we have managed to create, over the five years of our activity, a series of exhibitions that bring together artists and people interested in digital art. We enjoyed every event together, socialized, and made new friends; in other words, we had beautiful experiences all these years with the audience next to us. We hope that through our work, we have given them a new perspective on art in general and the creative way technology can be used.

Timișoara celebrates this year, holding the title of European Capital of Culture through numerous artistic events, from art exhibitions to cultural conferences, plays, concerts, films, festivals and shows. How did you position yourself in this effervescent cultural context?

Indeed, this year was a very special one for the city of Timișoara and, at the same time, quite intense for us as artists and cultural operators. In the first part of the year, we managed to receive funding through the Opening+ program, with the help of which we realized the FLUID project in collaboration with the Marginal Association from Bucharest. The project included three events: a meeting with the community, an exhibition at the intersection of art, science and technology, and a group exhibition called Pixel Lights, with eight artists selected following an open call, three of whom received an award from the jury.

We then continued to support the city’s cultural program through the group exhibition Her Letters, curated by Adriana Oprea and made in collaboration with Lapsus (with whom we share the same level of the former Azur factory), followed by three other individual exhibitions by the artists Floriama Cândea, Dorin Cucicov and Alina Tofan, to whom we offered our space and equipment to present their projects created as a result of the Energy scholarship, provided by Center for Projects.
It was important for us to try to involve the local community as much as possible and to support the city’s cultural program as much as possible with events that resonate with different types of audiences.

Is the public receptive to digital art?

As far as I can see, students and young artists are the most present and receptive to such events. Then, follow groups of children from different schools who often sign up for workshops or guided tours. This is evident not only at the events we hold at D:C\ but also at the other exhibitions and festivals in the country dedicated to new media or multimedia art. Most likely, curiosity about technological evolution makes them want to know more about digital art and how such projects can be done.

Interest in digital art is growing both locally and nationally. Constant residencies, exhibitions, festivals and platforms are dedicated to this artistic genre, alongside conferences and debates on technology and its impact on contemporary society. We must learn to use technology as inventively as possible and not end up in a situation where it uses us.

Is there something you’d like to explore, but the proper context hasn’t come along yet?

I often explore the relationships between art, science and technology, so whenever artist residency programs reflect these connections, I try to apply. Although I have already collaborated with various research institutes at home and abroad, I would like to continue these collaborations soon because they give me access to new technological equipment, with the help of which I can investigate specific invisible processes to the general public.

The interview is part of the project REPERE, an approach through which I aim to present outstanding people, with a beautiful and healthy professional career, with inspirational stories, people who have transformed Timișoara into an effervescent cultural city through numerous exceptional events initiated and coordinated over time, but also on the occasion of the celebration of holding the title of European Capital of Culture.

This journalistic material was made through the financing program Energie! Burse de creație, supported by the Municipality of Timișoara through the Center for Projects, within the Power Station component of the National Cultural Program “Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in the Year 2023”. The material does not necessarily represent the position of the Center for Projects of the Municipality of Timișoara, and this one is not responsible for its content or how it may be used.